Expo 86 is a brilliant reinforcement of what occurs when true chemistry exists in a band.

Interstellar may not be the most enterprising album released this year, but there won't likely be another one that so cogently captures the celestial side of an era [the 80's] known for its excesses.

Much popier than the band’s previous efforts, this is a fun album with catchy beats, cool guitars and a lo-fi sound.

Nothing about the five originals and two covers here makes them come across like B-sides or throwaways.

On a purely compositional level, this is dazzling and downright brilliant. But on a purely artistic level, Insides is a startling accomplishment.

For Janes, Say Goodbye is a shining force and testimony of the great resolute determination is; if this is what her version of soul is, the new and inviting experiments are surely welcome.

Eighteen years in the making, An Appointment With Mr Yates is The Waterboys actual masterpiece.

A lush post-rock masterpiece.

Intentional or not, The Inevitable Past is the Future Forgotten conjures up nostalgic moments with its overall demeanor. It's truly enabled Three Mile Pilot to possess an inquisitively solid sound and in the end, achieve the goal of fusing such memorable music together.

It’s with his latest masterpiece, 808s & Heartbreak, that he has demonstrated, with impeccable skill, that he is supreme, yet again.

It’s simply constructed, confidently attempted and ultimately, radiantly accomplished. And much like that couple [on the album back cover], the album’s missteps are present but there is enough good to prove this is a solid effort.

there is an impressive and ambitious sense of craftsmanship across the record that captures Blank Realm on the cusp of something truly special.

Whilst the modus operandi suggests something rather derivative, somehow the album achieves more than fan-boy indulgence; managing to be stylish and atmospheric without being too slick or insubstantial.

While Amore del Tropico blazes some new paths for Black Heart Procession, it also hits all the right notes from the group's past.

Alter is intense, brooding, and taut, perfectly utilizing piano, chaotic dissident guitar, and complex percussion.

Phillips and Wareham manage to toe just the right line between diverse arrancements and album-wide cohesion - it's a little like listening to Luna in an alternate universe where they only play weddings and bar mitzvahs.

With Radical Connector, Mouse on Mars is taking an important step forward – both in terms of musical vision and international standing.

This album makes the case they deserve our attention and our own hospitality.

Cooper made it long enough to record one last, amazingly decorated and meticulously crafted album, Immolate Yourself, with his other half, Joshua Eustis. And with this album, not only did the tandem create something special but it just may end up being the best album of their entire career.

This album is a lot more than just a singer/songwriter's romantic confessions but not quite the grandiose rock of The Flaming Lips and Beck, but The Russian Futurists have carved a nice little niche somewhere in between.

This new album capitalizes on many of the singer/songwriter's strengths with songs that support his abilities.

The highs here, while admittedly not quite as majestic or sugary as in the past, are still pretty far up there, and better yet, there are no lows.

One of the most accessible, pleasant releases of 2006.

At times on Song in the Air, I'm reminded of what it might sound like if Sigur Ros, Radiohead, and Jimmy Eat World were all merged together.

The Anomoanon spin small miracles of magic on Joji by merely using a 70s rock-radio framework as a springboard for deceptively modern and intricate synchronized guitar leads, vocal harmonies borrowed from the Flying Burrito Brothers, and a taut rhythm section lifted from On the Beach/Zuma-era Neil Young.

Thomas doesn’t need to be so shy anymore; with a solid debut and complimentary bandmates, he’s comfortably found his outlet.

With synths that convey the techno side behind Scuba's music, Rose allows the songs to flow within each other by way of carefully-placed transitions. There's a strong ear for melody and a terrific depiction of the sunny summer month.

Appropriately for an album called The Gathering, the esthetic Arbouretum achieves feels somewhat monolithic--overarching and whole instead of neurotic and splintered--and in this manner should provide healing properties for a psyche battered around by all the little specifics of daily life.

Fourteen songs deep, each and every one is a terrific slice of electronic pop that definitely delivers astounding results.

His vision of the album is similarly relational, and this debut brims with variety and skill, coming off with a complex personality at turns exuberantly earnest, darkly melancholy, and dreamily coy.

A series of serene and sensuous treasures rich in texture and laden with rapturous instrumental hooks.

The proceedings, though, are not without occasionally lesser moments and that’s something that fans of Save Everything and Very Soon may be surprised to hear.

For something put together with a supposed casualness, Bird Dog Dante is actually a remarkably industrious--albeit satisfyingly low-key--affair that stands-up as Parish’s most consistent and accessible solo album to date.

Taken as a whole, this endearingly strange collection should force casual-listeners to appreciate the importance of the album as a convoluted, contrary and eternally charismatic art form, which can still be defended by even the most work-shy of songsmiths.

While Era Vulgaris is not cohesive in tone (Could it be a reflection of today’s fragmented, compartmentalized world that pulls in all directions?) and doesn’t fire consistently on all cylinders, the album is still chock-a-block with complex instrumental arrangements, stop-and- start rhythms, gracefully refined harmonies, cranked-up choruses, and pointed commentary on the modern world.

The lack of truly classic Calexico moments marks the album as a transitory step: too far for some, not enough for others.

Possibly the best Kristin Hersh solo album since 1994's classic Hips & Makers.

The Wave Pictures are a band sufficiently self-confident to take enough risks to keep themselves interested but without distancing themselves from their extant character, which Great Big Flamingo Burning Moon reveals is a durable and entertaining combination for the most part, even if a tad more lubrication would have helped to soften-up some of its drier corners.

Lithium Burns is a far too well crafted and assuredly performed record for a debut album.

While the band is always fun and catchy, it can be a bit much after a while.

Those who are desperately clutching onto the past few months' sunny days and starry nights – or planning for Summer 2011 already – are likely to dig the unpretentious, casual atmosphere of Eternal Summers. For everyone else, there's bound to be something else out there better suited to pumpkins spice lattes and fall harvests.

It's not entirely necessary, sure, and it's not going to be essential listening for new fans, but it's a classy retrospective on Merritt's songwriting prowess.

Nothing is Real is an eleven-song effort that showcases Crystal Antlers with a tighter outfit and in turn, a tighter release.

They have indeed created an album that is ultimately rewarding and full of musical promise.

See You in Magic's tracks are so consistently good that determining the album's best poses a challenge.

16 sonorous, brooding alternative-rock tracks that are as open and experimental as they are rocked out and catchy.

RYAT takes her technique a step further on album #2, diversifying her sound to include symphonic strings and other instrumentation. She also delves deeper into a more expressive, sometimes vulnerable, vocal delivery, getting to the root of her emotions and letting them take seed in song.

Whilst Craig Dermody still has some way to go in proving himself as a near-equal to his unconcealed influences, Mid Thirties Single Scene does attest that Scott & Charlene’s Wedding are about far more than a jokey band name, with some increasingly impressive staying-power. Moreover, it’s unquestionably the group’s first keeper collection.

Ultimately, Sunset / Sunrise is a wonderful follow-up for the duo because of how well they are able to combine the best aspects from their debut with new found options.

Some of the mid-tempo tracks towards the end of the album may slow the momentum created by the first half, yet Only In Dreams is ultimately a triumphant, self-assured release that proves the Dum Dum Girls are here to stay and will continue to evolve into full-fledged rock stars, a role they seemed destined to fill.

While many electronic acts are trying their hand at folkier compositions and attempting to squeeze warmth from the digital realm, The Knife's Silent Shout opts for ice-cold distance. The record suffers nothing for it, instead coming out monolithic and beautiful.

To themselves and their fans, this is probably just another good Bats record. To newcomers, like myself, this is a great record that really deserves to be checked out.

Frankly, you could pick pretty much any song at random and be guaranteed either a gorgeous slab of jubilation or a bittersweet drop of beatification.

Whilst there has been a little external redecoration, many core elements remain in the band’s unchangeable centre of gravity.

Stylistically, while it can all fit in to the category of Indie/Alt. Rock if it had to, every song brings something different to the table.

Zoo Psychology is gritty, and crazy, and at times, almost maddening.

A bright, urgent, and charming album from an excellent young band.

Each track is unique, thanks in part to Markus Acher's peculiar voice and The Notwist's ability to seamlessly blend acoustic pop and electronic rock into a genre-bending, intriguing, and sometimes catchy, electro-fuzz pop, resulting in an uncommonly captivating album that gets better with each spin.

The overall effect is some formidable, quirky inde-rock.

Veering through infectious reflexions on self-imposed domestic isolation (“Staying In”), being contentedly single (“It’s So Weird”), confectionary-addiction (“Sugar”), rampant life commodification (“Everything’s For Sale”), the fake news-mired polity (“Paid To Lie”), personal body and space dishevelment (“Broken Doll”), these are some of the most consistently likeable Hatfield cuts of recent times.

What could have been a boring, belligerent, and bellicose introspective slide into the music industry dustbin has in fact turned out to be one of Grandaddy’s most listenable and likeable releases.

Every note on the album feels intricately placed. Every word sung feels thoroughly vetted. Luna has nary a molecule of atmosphere to spare on this record.

It’s so intriguing that I continually find myself tuning and listening to it over and over again.

Milk Man is representative of just about everything the band does best: the melodies soar, bend, and crunch; the verse seems interminably driven by its own internal logic; and the band’s members still play with a near-telepathic singularity of thought.

My only complaint about this brilliant album is that the first half is so strong, the second half is weak in comparison.

Heron King Blues, for all its successes, is not an album for Califone rookies.

The band merrily rips through song after song with skill and zeal, all the while cheekily brandishing a wit that's equal parts irony and earnestness.

The songs on Thickfreakness are all near masterpieces.

Obits revels in the sort of music that's at the other end of the spectrum from brooding introspection and critical listening; these songs don't ask for a response so much as they demand a reaction.

Superb album in every facet, it is the first time in a while I have been able to emotionally engage in an album right from the get go.

His most complete album to date, Chad Van Gaalen's Soft Airplane carries aisles of contradictions through turbulence and diffused sunlight. Here, the talented artist plays to his strengths.

There's enough diversity amongst these 11 songs to showcase the band's unique talents.

As with any Kristin Hersh long-player, Learn To Sing Like A Star will of course take a dozen or so spins to reveal its true merits to listeners.

While the design is a bit different, the result is still another awesome album to add to Arctic Monkeys' arsenal.

The depth of Sioux's technical skill is palpable and worth the listen.

This album is both immediately gratifying and deceptively interesting.

They have crafted a terrific debut album and are prime to make a dent in the indie community.

The music is bold, intelligent, and quirky--maybe a little too quirky, but that’s up for debate. If Peanut Butter has a fault, it’s too much consistency.

Formerly, you’d envision a samba paced song like “An Insular Life” to grow into a meaty, strong-armed force but here, Meiburg and Co. allow for the strings to bring it to a lifting end, well after they’d taken the drum’s pattern to a heavenly new place.

With The Brutalist Bricks, they’ve silenced doubters with another skillful dose of catchy rock and it’s quite the remedy for any sour disbelievers.

All 12 tracks on Love Is All’s new LP Two Thousand and Ten Injuries provide instant intrigue, and after 20 listens to the album – it’s that addicting--not one of the songs managed to lose its initial charm.

If it doesn't put you to sleep, WIT'S END provides a rich and empathetic companion to loneliness.

The chemistry between the members of Rahim is quite apparent from the beginning to the end of the album.

The worst thing you can say about On My Way is that it isn't as good as Sha Sha.

Let the bloggers cry about the change all they want but None Shall Pass is the most focused and dare I say accessible album of Aesop’s career

While it drifts away from the listener somewhat during its middle section, Recording a Tape the Colour of the Light is, for the most part, a captivating listen.

It isn’t leaps and bounds better than its predecessor but within that time frame, they’ve all fine-tuned their act.

The group's strength and distinguishing characteristics rest in its superior sense of melody.

For a de facto second bite of the comeback cherry, Snow Bound has plenty to warrant continued active-veteran status for The Chills.

Given the wider reach and greater ambition at play, Trouble is indeed a vastly improved Hospitality studio set. Admittedly, the album could have done with more a few more truly standouts statements.

The album never challenges the conventions of a political punk rock record. Because so many political punk rock records have come and gone, Anti-Flag missed another opportunity to at least make The People or the Gun a little more compelling than its army of predecessors.

Together, the imagery and music provide a nostalgic, innocent atmosphere, and an album worthy of a listen.

Wrongly cast as a chicken-fried version The Strokes after 2003’s stellar Youth & Young Manhood, on their latest, Aha Shake Heartbreak, The Kings prove that they’re a band of significant depth and originality.

Amanda Palmer Goes Down Under is, simply, a lot of fun. Some of that fun might most appeal to the countries it's directed at, but those feeling no particular kinship to Australia or New Zealand will still find Amanda's quirkiness endearing.

As reunion records go this is certainly no lazy phoned-in companion to more lucrative live shows, as it captures promising movements forward as opposed to just fumbled nostalgic flashbacks.

While it’s very good hard rock and there are the little differences, the overall sound of the album is largely the same.

Strong and very durable, the somewhat live album is an interesting release, with many free-forming ideas and passing blunders abounding.

Mark the musical prowess of individual band members as key to fragile moments, nuances and nods to a variety of other styles: country twangs and slides, soul, classical, punk, funk, and even, blue-grass.